True worship, cling firmly to His feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भिक्ष्यापत्र अवलंबणें । जळो जिणें लाजिरवाणें । ऐसियासी नारायणें । उपेक्षीजे सर्वथा ॥1॥
देवा पायीं नाहीं भाव। भक्ति वरी वरी वाव । समपिनला जीव । नाहीं तो हा व्यभिचार ॥ध्रु.॥
जगा घालावें सांकडें । दीन होऊनि बापुडें । हें चि अभाग्य रोकडें । मूळ आणि विश्वास ॥2॥
काय न करी विश्वंभर । सत्य करितां निर्धार । तुका ह्मणे सार । दृढ पाय धरावे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To go on relying on letters of recommendation and to live a shameful, dependent life: Narayana must surely forsake such a one. If there is no true devotion at God's feet, all outward show of faith is faithlessness, a betrayal; it is false to claim one has surrendered the jiva. To burden the world by becoming a pitiful beggar: this is misfortune manifest, undermining both the root and the trust. What will the All-sustainer not do for one who is truly resolute? Says Tuka, the essence is this: cling firmly to His feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To keep leaning on letters of recommendation, to live a shameful, dependent life: let such a life burn. Narayana is bound to forsake a man like that. If there is no love at God's feet, then all the show of devotion on the surface is empty. To claim you have offered up your life when you have not is a betrayal. To burden the world, turning beggar and acting pitiful: this is misfortune laid bare, and it eats away the root and the trust. What will the All-sustainer not do for the one who is truly resolute? Tuka says: this is the heart of it. Hold firmly to His feet.
What it means
Tukaram is drawing the line between dependence on the world and true reliance on God. He scorns the life that survives by trading on recommendations and pity, and says God himself turns away from such a person. Real devotion lives at God's feet, in love; without that inner ground, all visible piety is hollow, and to claim you have surrendered your life when you have not is a kind of betrayal. Going about as a pitiful beggar burdening others is not humility but plain misfortune that rots the very root of faith and trust. Against all that he sets the promise: there is nothing the All-sustainer will not do for one who is firmly resolved, so the whole of it comes down to holding fast to God's feet.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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